January 01, 2014

Live performances have their seasons and then are gone : sometimes they remain vivid, but often, excellent productions and outstanding performances drift into imperfect recollection and hearsay. I hope this website, for all its sometimes unwelcome opinions, is a useful record of some of the notable activity in Adelaide this year.

I want to thank all the companies and creatives who have invited me to performances in 2013 and to acknowledge your continuing commitment and achievement.

Looking back on my comments for 2012 I find they are even more apposite twelve months on, so perhaps they can be repeated here :

“It is always hard to create good work and these are especially difficult times in which to operate.

So much entertainment is now corporatized and commodified and the capacity and inclination of many audiences to engage with art works which are original, challenging, local and independent seems to be diminishing.

It seems unfathomable that companies and governments can allocate (and write down) budgets in the billions and no-one can find funds for this country’s cultural activity. Less and less is being done to support new works by Australian artists, performers, and makers of all kinds – many in mid-career and with proven reputations. That so many continue in their vocations – in uncertain circumstances and for often modest rewards – is not just admirable, it is inspirational.”

These are a selection of my highlights for the past year – not in any rank order, and by no means all that deserve mention.

Best Adelaide Productions of 2013

Hedda Gabler (directed by Geordie Brookman/ State Theatre Company)

Babyteeth (directed by Chris Drummond /State Theatre Company)

Big Bad Wolf (directed by Rosemary Myers /Windmill Theatre )

Vere (directed by Sarah Goodes/ State Theatre Company)

Thursday (directed by Chris Drummond/Brink Productions and English Touring Theatre)

Best Five Touring Productions

One Man, Two Guvnors (directed by Nicholas Hytner/National Theatre of Great Britain)